Varsity

Tomorrow night is the first Varisty basketball game for Caleb. I am so excited about this game. My camera is in my purse ready to go. Last year as a freshman, Caleb had a very good season and the games were a lot of fun. Of course, winning is always fun. Then during the spring, he tried out for a select team sponsored by Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz. He made the team and had a very busy summer playing in tournaments everywhere from Texas A&M to OU to Las Vegas. They played in tournaments 3 weekends out of every month during the summer. It was an incredible experience for him and us. (He really liked all the traveling and staying in all those hotels!!) Randy and I went to every tournament. In Vegas, we got to go see the USA Olympic Team (made up of Deron Williams, Koby Byrant, and a few other NBA players) play Canada just a couple of days before they left to go to China for the Olympics. Anyway, playing on the Deron Williams Elite basketball team this summer helped improve his game and get him ready for school ball. And now it's here. He made the Varsity team as a sophomore. He is the only sophomore on the team and while I had my concerns about him being accepted by the juniors and seniors on the team, the guys have done an awesome job of treating him as their equal. They have played a couple of tournaments and scrimmages over the last 3 weeks and he was one of the starting five each time. He is in the gym every morning at 6:30am to work on shooting. He locks himself in the gym and he just stands there and shoots until nearly time for school to start at 8:00am. He's been doing that since school started this year. His shooting was so good in the tournaments that after the last game a couple of the seniors asked him if they could come at 6:30 and shoot too. (He was 8 for 10 on his 3 point shots and 100% at the free throw line - just to brag a little!) He still has a lot to learn on the varsity level, he is working on his speed and his defense, varisty is a lot faster than freshman or JV ball, but he is developing nicely. I expect really exciting things from him by the time he is a senior. But, now he starts his Varsity career, now comes the real test, at a real game that counts. He just finished modeling the new team uniform....he's just a little excited too! I'll keep posted on how the games goes.